Beyond the "Pattern of Heaven": Gender, Kinship and the Family in Chinaby Timothy Naslund

1. Monica Cable

1.1. Received her PhD at Tulane University in 2006

1.2. Is the Director of Fellowships and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Franklin & Marshall College

2. Thesis:

2.1. To explore the interrelationship between gender, kinship and the family in what scholars have frequently termed "Chinese" culture, suggest that it be more accurately termed Han Chinese culture, and offer examples of alternative models of kinship seen in several of China's ethnic minority groups.

3. The Han Chinese

3.1. Han Chinese identity was formed during he Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 -.D.)

3.2. Confucian tradition and patrilineal kinship united the group that made up the Han Chinese.

4. Confucianism

4.1. Founded by Kong Fuzi (Confucius) in the 6th century B.C.

4.2. Join through self-cultivation, not birth.

4.2.1. Mostly men

4.3. Filial piety

4.3.1. Respect and honor of one's parents

4.4. The five relationships: Shows benevolence on the part of the superior. It's goal is to achieve group harmony.

4.4.1. Ruler/minister

4.4.2. Father/son

4.4.3. Elder brother/younger brother

4.4.4. Husband/wife

4.4.5. Friend/friend

5. Patrilineal Kinship

5.1. Genealogies served to cement male hegemony

5.2. Because lineage played a role in economic and political structure, membership in certain lineage was important

5.2.1. Women were often left out if the relationship between their husband was "Terminated" (divorced, widowed, remarried)

6. The Surname

6.1. Father's side of the family

6.1.1. Numerous and varied, along with distinct terms differing in terms of age

6.2. Mother's side of the family

6.2.1. General and lumped together with close male relatives under one term, regardless of age.

7. Life Stages of the Han Chinese Woman

7.1. Women are seen in an inferior position

7.1.1. Have to defer to men. First to their fathers, then to their husbands, and upon widowhood to their sons

7.2. Marriage is considered the most important part of their life

7.2.1. Divorce is feared

8. Nuanced Approaches to Han Chinese Gender and Kinship

8.1. Wolf's idea of the uterine family

8.1.1. A mother-centered family unit that could serve to support women cut off from their natal kin networks

8.1.2. Not necessarily seen as egalitarian toward women

8.1.3. Consists of mothers and their children

9. Post-1949 Trends

9.1. CCP

9.1.1. Chinese Communist Party

9.2. Constitution of 1950

9.3. China's one-child policy

10. Alternate Models of Kinship and the Family in China

10.1. The Dai

10.1.1. Tai-speaking group of around 300,000 residing in the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in the People's Republic of China's southwestern province of Yunnan

10.1.2. Kinship is bilateral

10.1.2.1. descent reckoned through both the female and male lineage

10.1.3. Family name changes to the eldest child

10.2. The Lahu

10.2.1. A Tibeto-Burman speaking group residing in the mountainous border regions of Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and China

10.2.2. They show no preference toward male or female children

10.2.3. Kinship is bilateral

10.2.3.1. Kin terms are based on the married couple

10.2.4. Husband and wife share the workload both in the fields and at home